This morning the Press Democrat ran a front page article titled: "Fight Against Blight". It details the plight of Phyllis Sharrow of Petaluma who has the unfortunate luck of living next to a foreclosed property. Weeds have overtaken the lawn of the abandoned home next door and her property value is being affected. Calls to Bank of America to try to get the place cleaned up go unanswered. This has been going on for 2 years prompting her to put a sign outside her home with an arrow pointing at the foreclosure stating: "Bank of America. Your taxpayer bailout dollars at work. Our home values lose!"
Looking at the photo that accompanies the article we can see the address is 821 Madison Street. I pulled up the address on ForeclosureRadar.com and got the history of the property. Shockingly, the bank has NOT foreclosed on the home according to their data. Here are the details:
So it looks like the home was never foreclosed on and therefore is not owned by the bank.
Is Bank of America just sitting on this loan and letting the property deteriorate? I've heard that banks are reluctant to foreclose because A) this forces them to recognize a loss on the loan, and B) if they do foreclose they are the owners and are responsible for the property taxes.
To me it looks as if that is what is happening here. But how long can this go on? You would think the banks would want to flush out these loans before the mid- to high-end foreclosure crisis is upon us.
I have an acquaintance who has not made a payment in 21 months and since recieving a NOD at 60 days delinquent nothing has happened.The home is in kensington Ca,the lender was Countrywide and the original loan was a little north of $900k.I now of several other similar situations,but the locations are not as nice,nor are the loan amounts as large.These decisions appear to be made on the basis of internal politics rather than the interests of shareholderd or society at large.
ReplyDeleteThe Jig is up. The banks are insolvent. USA is BK.
ReplyDeleteIf the property taxes are not paid for some time and the resident has no equity, the county/city should foreclose, take their pound of flesh and give the senior mortgage holder the remains, forcing them to recognize the loss. Or does the public hand have a similar interest NOT to recognize the real value of the property?
ReplyDeletei think you hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you the same thing of someone I know that has not made a mortgage payment in 19 months. He has not even received a late notice yet from the mtg company servicing the note... They cannot foreclose it looks like!!!
ReplyDeleteIf I had a property next door that looked like that I'd at least take my weed wacker over to it and clean up the front yard. How about some ingenuity to keep your prop values from dropping? Frankly I doubt that the property next door has anything to do with the property value drop but whatever...
ReplyDeleteEveryone here should read up on ADVERSE POSESSION.
ReplyDeleteThat is how the law will hold banks accountable for not foreclosing and liquidating the property.
Not sure how you are reconciling ADVERSE POSESSION can hold the bank accountable?? Adverse posession usulally gives a third party right to claim legal right to someone else's property. The third party holds the right to this claim and not allowing someone else to force ownership onto an unknowing fourth party. For someone to exercise the right of Adverse Posession they need to show that its posession is actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, under cover of claim or right, and continuous and uninterrupted for the statutory period. All of the elements must be present or the claim will fail......
ReplyDeleteThe neighbor should change the locks and start renting the house out for free, just tell the tenants that it's free for month-to-month as long as they keep up the property.
ReplyDeleteAdverse possession takes years of use/maintenance by an adjacent landowner in the absence of such use/maintenance by the listed landowner. Now unless those laws have been changed to allow illegals or other squaters to own land they simply take for a few weeks or months its not going to stand up in court.
ReplyDeleteAnd we should all be grateful to the PD for their fine coverage of this issue.I understand that they will be doing even more thorough fact checking when their reporters get access to the internet.
ReplyDelete"when their reporters get access to the internet"
ReplyDeletePURE GOLD!
This is all one big shell game at this point. I have a friend who works as an appraiser for B of A, says they are all working like crazy on re-finances, but that the Countrywide portfolio they inherited is a toxic mess....the vast majority of those loans can't be helped...the FB's don't qualify for any kind of re-financing, of course. Liar loans to begin with and now they're massively under water.
ReplyDeleteSo the shell game is in full swing....this is all about containment at this point. And the banks will do everything they can to "mitigate" the tsunami. And we still have Alt A and Option ARM to look forward to!
BTW, a little cottage I looked at in west Petaluma last year never sold and went off the market. Just went back on as a short sale, and $100K less than last year's asking price. So glad to be renting right now!!
John I read sometime early last year that many banks can not find title or any of the paperwork associated with homes loans. I think this first surfaced around Cleveland or someplace in Ohio and a big German bank..This could be one of many reason the banks are not forclosing. And yes I am sure the property tax issue comes into play. Why don't the local governments get tough with the banks. Not guts ha.
ReplyDeleteWalkaway:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/50548282.html
I am so tired of people complaining about "The homes next door that are noy being maintained" that are bringing down their property values. Take your damn lawnmower next door, once a week for an hour and cut the damn grass!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy neighborhood has several empty homes, presumed foreclosed, in it that aren't being maintained. Isn't there a website that is used to try and "Disgrace" the banks into at least the bare minimum maintanence? I know it doesn't work but I would like to post them anyway. But regardless..... The best right now solution is to do it ourselves. Can I charge the bank for this service?
ReplyDeleteDo you live in Sonoma County? I could look into it and maybe profile it.
ReplyDelete